we can read of countless finds wrecked by their discovery or damaged in harmful attempts to conserve them. But the François Vase has had an unusually difficult life. It was broken into many pieces in antiquity. In 1844, some of its many sherds were discovered by Alessandro François at Chiusi, not far from Perugia in northern Italy. The legend goes that François had to excavate an area the size of the Colosseum to find as many pieces as he did.
